Knit goods printing machine



July 26, 1960 E. v. DISCH KNIT GOODS PRINTING MACHINE.

Original Filed July 7,

etit cc Patented July 26, 1960 KNIT GOODS PRINTING MACHINE ment is used,the accuracy of the respective multi-color registrations is not alwaysobtained. 1 have found that in order to achieve completely uniformresults in the multi-color printing of stretchable fabrics with resinbase 5 inks it is necessary to subject the printed fabric to a pre- EmsDlsch 9 g" to liminary drying operation to drive off the liquidconstitgz fg g Plamfiel a corpora on 0 uents of the printing ink withoutcorrespondingly shrinking or distorting the fabric and then to subjectthe printed Original application July 7, 1955, Ser. No. 520,487. designto a final heating and cooling operation to cure Divided and thisapplication Oct- 31, 195 S al N 10 and set the ink and stabilize thefabric. Furthermore, in 771,045 order to prevent distortion in themulti-color registrations, I have found it necessary to synchronize thevarious 2 Claims' (CL 101 178) web feeding elements at the variousstages so that at no point is the fabric subjected to any substantialstretch This invention relates to the art of printing designs on ordimensional distortion. readily stretchable fabrics, and especially tothe printing Accordingly, in the drawing the numeral 1 represents ofmulti-color designs on knit goods and the like. a roll of thestretchable fabric to be multi-color printed,

A principal object of the invention is to provide a printsuch as knittedgoods or Woven goods as received from ing machine of the multi-colorrotary printing drum kind the mill. This mill roll is supported fordownward rollwhich is especially designed and adapted to print multiingmovement by gravity on a pair of inclined ways or color designs onstretchable fabrics such as knit goods, guides 2, and the weight of theroll holds it in contact with maximum accuracy of color registration byprewith a positively driven unwind roll 3 covered with rubventing thefabric from being stretched or otherwise diher or other similarmaterial. Preferably the Ways 2 mensionally distorted during theprinting operations. and the mill roll may be supported on any suitabletilt- Another object is to provide a printing machine of the able frame43 whose angular position can be adjusted for rotary printing drummulti-color kind for printing on example by a hand wheel 5. The fabricfrom the roll 1 readily stretchable materials, such as knit goods, withengages the under periphery of the rubber covered roll 3, permanent inksof the resinous base kind. and then passes upwardly and around thenip-forming roll A further object is to provide a machine for insuring 7Which is mounted as an idler roll and is arranged to accuracy ofregistration of multi-color printings on readily press the fabricagainst the printing drum 8, around which stretchable materials such asknit goods and the like. the fabric passes for approximately 75 percentof the A feature of the invention relates to the novel organizadrumperiphery. The idler roll 7 is preferably carried tion, arrangement, andrelative location and interconby the frame 4 so that by adjustment ofthe hand wheel nection of parts, which cooperate to provide an improved5 the pressure between the roll and fabric and against multi-colorprinting machine for stretchable fabrics. the drum 8 can be accuratelycontrolled.

Other features and advantages not particularly enum- The printing drum 8is driven by the printing rollers erated will be apparent after aconsideration of the fol- 10, 11, 12, and 13, so as to impart a uniformrotational lowing detailed descriptions and the appended claims. p ed [0the drum 8. Drum 8 drives the idler roll 7 The drawing shows, by way ofexample, one preferred by its frictional engagement with web 6.Therefore, the embodiment of a rotary drum multi-color fabric printingroll 7 effects no dimensional distorting influence on the machine, forprinting and processing printed designs on Web. Furthermore, theinclined or pull roll 3 is also posiknitted fabrics such as sheernylons, rayons, cotton, or tively driven at a fixed speed ratio Withrespect to drum wool fabrics, so as to produce a design which issubstan- 8, as schematically represented by the dot-dash line and tiallyfree from fading or wash-out when the goods are schematic gearingsymbol. This ratio is chosen so that bj t d t w hi the linear speed ofmovement of the web 6 is uniform While the art of multi-color printingon relatively nonthroughout its length, and thus it is not subjected toany stretchable materials, such as paper and the like, has substantialtension in the direction of its length. reached a high degree ofdevelopment, the mechanisms n d r t prevent ndwise slippage or skewingof the used in that particular application have not always been fabricthe rfa e of drum 8 is lapped by a cotton cloth found practicable forprinting in multi-color on stretch- Which h b h ,59. th t the .knitfabric 6 is fricable materials such as knit or Woven fabrics. That istiOhallY held 011 'llhe drum against pp ge and especially true where thefabrics are to be printed in fi gmulti-color in a continuous feedingoperation using en- Located "around the p ng drum 8 r a ri s f gravedprinting r0113, as distinguished from reciprocating mllltl-COlOIengraved printing I'OllS Of Which 0111 such or linearly moving printingheads. In the latter kind of T0118 are n, namely r0118 These e grav dmachine it is possible to hold the fabric stationary against Printingare P y driven at a fiXed Speed 50 a suitable flat ba ki a d th t moveth printing that the printing pressure on the fabric does not subject ithead into contact with the goods. Consequently, in that to y drag,Stretch, Or other sional distortion. The type of fabric printing,registration of the various colors engraved Printing T0115 EYE ProvidedWith respective ink can be readily achieved and the problem ofdimensional p of reservoirs and with respective ink PP distortion of thefabric is not as critical as it is where catof T0115 13*21 andrespective dOCtOr' blades 5 the printing is to be done by engravedrollers which con- Each Of the P 7 filled th a re pective C0 016dtinuously contact With and press against the fabric. It P g inkPreferably 0f a kind Which has a s us has been found that when usingconventional engraved Plastic base rollers to print multi-color designsand fabrics, the prob- I have found that in order to produce the bestresults lem of color registration is exceedingly difficult to meet. Whenmulii-colol P g With Such inks, it is necessary One reason for that isthat the fabric, not being self-supto subject the printed design to apreliminary controlled porting and in many cases for example in the caseof heat treatment. For that purpose the printed fabric, after nylons,rayons, and synthetic fibers where the fabric leaving the drum 8, issubstantially directly transferred is extremely sleazy, unavoidablybecomes dimensionally distorted. Even when complicated anti-skewingequipto an endless conveyor belt 26 which extends around a series ofrollers 27-32. Rollers 27-31 are idler rollers,

,nwm. whereas roller 32 is a belt driven roller and is driven in fixedspeed ratio with respect to drum 8, as indicated schematically by thedot-dash line and gearing symbol in thedrawing, this ratio being chosenso that the linear. movement of the fabric 6 on the conveyor 26 is thesame throughout its length. I In order that no substantial unsupportedspan of the printed fabric exists, the roller 27 is located so that theinitial end of the conveyor belt is as close as possible to the drum 8,for example within a space of a few inches. I have found that this isnecessary since the sleaziness and non-self-supporting properties ofcertain fabrics might otherwise entail undesirable sagging anddistortion thereof. It will be understood, of course, that a very slightslack is desirable in the fabric between the point where it leaves thedrum 8 and the point where it actualengages the conveyor belt 26.

The conveyor 26 is enclosed within a suitable oven 33 provided with aplenum chamber, whose inlet end is connected by a duct 34 to a source ofdry heated air which is blown in the direction of the arrow and exits atthe opposite end of the oven through an exhaust duct 35 which may beprovided with an exhaust fan or the like.

Thus, the liquid vehicle in the inked design on the fabric is subjectedto a continuous stream of warm dry air which moves without agitation orrecirculation through the plenum chamber of oven 33. It is importantthat the drying stream be substantially smoothly continuous so as not tosubject the printed fabric to any fluttering as it is passing throughthe oven. Furthermore, this drying stream is controlled so that theevaporation of the liquid vehicle of the printed design is graduallyevaporated so as to avoid any shrinkage of the fabric. At this stage,after leaving the oven 33, the printed ink design on the fabric, isneither permanent nor washable.

I have found that in order to achieve the desired degree of permanencyand washability of the printed ink design, it is necessary to subject itto an ink curing operation. This is effected by passing the printedfabric in a sinuous path between and around a series of curing rolls,fifteen of which are shown in the drawings and designated 36-50. Theserolls are shown mounted in a substantially vertical array in a suitableframe 51, and they are positively driven in fixed speed ratio withrespect to drum 8 so that they do not disturb the desired uniformity oflinear movement of the printed fabric and thus protect it against anymechanicalstretching.

The roll 50 is driven from motor 9 through suitable gearingschematically illustrated, and the successive rolls 36-50 may be gearedtogether also as schematically illustrated. All of the rolls may be ofhollow construction, and the first twelve rolls, namely rolls 36-47 aresteam heated, while the remaining three rolls, namely 48-50, are watercooled. It will be understood, of course, that the invention is notlimited to any particular manner of heating the rolls 36-47, providedthey are maintained at a temperature of approximately 300 degrees F.After the printed fabric has been subjected to the heating and coolingstages to effect curing and permanentizing of the printed design, thefabric is transferred to a double drum rewind comprising for example thepositively driven rewind rolls 52, 53, and the receiving roll 54 or 57.Roll 54 may be supported on suitable inclined ways 55 so as to be heldby gravity in contact with the rewind roll 53. Preferably, a rubberguide roll 56 is provided between the cooling roll 50 and the rewind:roll 52, it being understood that the rewind rolls 52 and 53 are drivenin synchronism with the remaining rolls so as not to disturb the uniformlinear motion of the fabric.

One of the outstanding advantages of the machine, in addition to thosealready described, is the fact that if the fabric 6 has been pro-shrunkby any well known shrinking process prior to feeding it into theprinting machine above described, the fabric can be printed without thenecessity of further processing or pre-shrinking prior to conversion toconsumer goods. Furthermore, by the use of the machine and process a sdescribed, it is possible to print piled knit fabrics with little, ifany, stretch or other dimensional distortion. 7 It willbe-understood,-of course, that the invention is not limited to theapplication to openwork designs since'the fabric can be printed allover. its surface with a single solid color. In other words, themachine, while it finds its primary utility in multicolor printing offabrics, can also be used to apply a single over-all colorcoat to thefabric through the medium of an etched printing roll.

Various changes and modificationsrmay be made in the machine and processas disclosed without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 520,487, filedJuly 7, 1955.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for printing on readily stretchable fabrics and the likewith a permanentized ink, comprising a rotary printing drum around whichthe fabric is wrapped, an inking roll for applying ink to the fabric onsaid drum, an ink drying oven through which the inked fabric passessubstantially immediately after leaving said drum, ink curing meansthrough which the fabric .passes after leaving said oven, said curingmeans including a series of closely adjacent heating rolls around whichthe printed fabric passes in a sinuous path whereby alternate rolls heatone face of the printed fabric and the intervening alternate rolls heatthe opposite face of the printed fabric, and power driving means fordriving said inking roll and said curing rolls positively insynchronized speed ratio while driving said drum frictionally by contactwith the moving fabric to maintain a uniform continuous linear speed ofmovement of the fabric through the printing, drying and ink curingstages, and thereby to maintain the fabric free from any substantialstretch or distortion.

2. A machine for printing a readily stretchable fabric and the like witha resin base ink comprising a rotary printing drum around which thefabric to be printed is fed in a continuous motion, said drum having asurface coat for frictionally holding said fabric thereon againstslippage, an engraved printing roll for applying a resin base ink to thefabric on said drum, an unwind roll for continuously unwinding thefabric from a supply roll without any substantial stretch, a variablespeed motor connected to said printing roll and to .said unwind roll forpositively rotating them in predetermined fixed synchronous speed ratiowhile driving said drum frictionally by engagement with the movingfabric, an elongated heating oven having its inlet end immediatelyadjacent said drum, a conveyor belt passing through said oven forconveying in a continuous motion therethrough the printed fabric fromsaid drum to a series of closely adjacent heating rolls and closelyadjacent cooling rolls, said rolls being arranged so that the printedfabric passes therearound in a sinuous path to cause alternate heatingrolls to heat one face of the fabric and the intervening alternateheating rolls to heat the opposite face of the fabric and means to drivesaid conveyor and said heating and cooling rolls in synchronous speedratio with said drum whereby said printed fabric is subjected tonegligible tensioning distortion during its continuous feeding movementthrough the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,315,377 McGiehan Sept. 9, 1919 2,204,802 Gessler June 18, 19402,378,444 Smith et a1 June 19, 1945 2,486,259 Chavannes Oct. 25, 1949

